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Movies & Mayhem — Addiction Incorporated

January 10, 2012

Although a documentary about a whistleblower in the tobacco industry may seem like old cigar butts, this Charles (“The Aviator”) Evans Jr. film is surprisingly engaging and, even more surprising, often quite funny. This is the true tale of Philip Morris scientist Victor DeNoble, who unexpectedly discovered the bullying muscle-bound cigarette makers of the world were not only adding a chemical ingredient to nicotine to make it more addictive, but were willing to crush anyone and anything that might hamstring their cash cow with “Excuse me, sir, but aren’t you causing premature deaths with this shit?” Hysterical, right? C’mon, trust us — there are laughs in here, not in the repercussions of an industry that should be outlawed, but in the filmmaker’s observations. Initially, DeNoble was not only ordered to keep his findings mum, but soon found himself unemployed. The man is exceedingly articulate, at times so polished he seems more like a broadcaster than a scientist. But over the years he has been one of the standard-bearers for this cause and was the catalyst for the first-ever congressional hearings and federal regulations of over-the-counter cancer sticks. He is now a full-time public speaker, educating children about how tobacco is truly as addictive as cocaine and heroin.